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The Importance of Hydration + Raspberry Lemonade Recipe!

One of my health resolutions for 2011 was to stay more hydrated. It’s really easy for me to get totally engrossed in work and completely forget to drink all day!

Staying hydrated is important on so many levels. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated – 75%, that’s crazy!! And at times, I (your supposedly perfectly responsible, healthy, on-top-of-her-game Nutrition coach) am one of them, eek!! Most people are so used to being chronically dehydrated that they no longer recognize the body’s normal signals of thirst. According to Dr. Howard Flaks, a bariatric (obesity) specialist in Beverly Hills, California, “By not drinking enough water, many people incur excess body fat, poor muscle tone and size, decreased digestive efficiency and organ function, increased toxicity in the body, joint and muscle soreness and water retention.” When your body is not properly hydrated all of your organs have to work harder. By now you know that when the body is working harder, you’re either feeling bad or getting fatter… kinda harsh, but it’s true.

One of my biggest motivators to stay hydrated, I’ll admit, is 100% vanity driven; it’s my skin. I can tell a HUUUUGE difference in my skin when I am guzzling water all day. In fact it is so profound that, thinking about it now, I am wondering why I ever fall out of the hydration routine in the first place!!

Hydration also plays a huge role in our weight. So many times we mistake thirst for hunger. Next time you’re feeling like a snack in between meals, try having 16oz of water, juice or herbal tea and see if that does the trick, it usually does!

A typical guideline to follow is to drink 1/2 an ounce per pound of body weight daily. That means if you weigh 140 lbs, you should be drinking 70oz of water daily, that’s just over 2 qts. Soda, caffeinated beverages, coffee, and even sparkling mineral water are not included as they are not hydrating. So what to do if water just doesn’t sound appealing? So glad you asked!!

First of all, you all know I’m BIG on the green juice. I strive for about 16-32oz daily. Green juice is seriously magical, no pill or vitamin is going to give you the pure life-force nutrition that you’ll get from green juice. Seriously, I can’t say this enough! Drink your green juice darlings!!

Green juice…water…what else?! Well, now that you’ve entered to win your FREE NuNaturals Stevia, Here’s a little recipe to try once you get your goods!

Raspberry Lemonade

Put 6 tea bags into 2 qts of room temperature water and let steep for about 15 mins. Remove tea bags and add the juice of 3 lemons (you can use more or less depending on the size of the lemons and your personal taste preferences). Last, add stevia to taste, serve over ice and enjoy!!

I will typically make about a gallon at a time so that I’ve always got some on hand. This is an easy, inexpensive, sugar-free & calorie-free drink that tastes amazing! It’s great for entertaining, and your kids will love it too – like a “fruit” drink only without the crazy sugar high; it’s basically the perfect beverage!!

You can make your own fabulously delicious variations using Red Zinger, Lemon Zinger, Orange/Tangerine, Cranberry, True Blueberry, Mint, and even Green Tea! The possibilities are endless! Who knew staying hydrated could be so delicious?!

You may have already explained that.. But why is anything with carbonation not hydrating? – bicarbonates occur naturally in mineral water (or is american mineral water different from german mineral water?)

Thanks, this is a great question! Regular mineral water is fine but I don’t consider sparkling or carbonated water to be as as hydrating as regular water.

You can do a fun little experiment to see & feel the difference for yourself! For one day, drink only carbonated water. Try to drink at least 2 liters total. On another day, drink only non carbonated water and note the difference you feel. You will probably notice that when you are drinking non carbonated beverages your skin, nose and mouth feel more hydrated and you will probably urinate 2-3x as much as opposed to when you are drinking only carbonated beverages.

I don’t have anything against carbonated water, I drink sparkling mineral water ALL the time! However, I just wouldn’t count it in your daily fluid requirement for proper hydration. This is what I have found to be true for me and my clients, especially athletes or active people. They simply do not hydrate efficiently with carbonated water. You would never find a marathon runner drinking sparling water during a race or training session!

Hello there…I recently stumbled upon your blog & I am loving it! However, I am from Ireland & not familiar with some of your abbreviations, such as, in the above recipe for Raspberry Lemonade your say “2 QTS of water”…what does QTS stand for??

Also, a lot of your recipes include Nunaturals Stevia. This product cannot be bought in Europe & can only be ordered from American suppliers & I just wondered if there is an equivalent to this which I can purchase more locally and that you would recommend?

A qt = quart which is 32 ounces. So 2 qts of water = 64oz. NuNaturals is the brand of stevia I use. If you don’t have NuNaturals, I’m sure they have another brand of liquid stevia at your local health food store 🙂 the website I linked to, http://www.iherb.com also ships internationally if you are interested in that. I hope this helps!

hi Linda,
great recipe…I forgot I had a box of Red Zinger in the cupboard, so am going to start making this again on a daily basis for myself and 2 daughters. I live in the UK , and have only just discovered that you can buy NuNaturals Stevia through amazon or ebay. How much do you use? thanks.

In the Rasberry tea, is it the “RED” Raspberry Tea of the one that is from the leaves of the plant? And I can’t fine a list of the amazing list of nutrients again. What is the link to that? (Just made my first batch.) I 85 but I’m still interested in improving my diet.
Thanks!